I recently met with a MS applications specialist who highly discouraged me from using DMSO in the HPLC solvents. The specialist indicated the DMSO could damage HPLC seals and fittings and thus severely diminish the HPLC's performance. Additionally, it sounds like the DMSO could coat the ion path of the mass spectrometer and reduce its sensitivity. Hearing this I am nervous to try it. I'd love to hear if anyone has any experience (good or bad) using DMSO in the HPLC solvents.

PhilG wrote:I recently met with a MS applications specialist who highly discouraged me from using DMSO in the HPLC solvents. The specialist indicated the DMSO could damage HPLC seals and fittings and thus severely diminish the HPLC's performance. Additionally, it sounds like the DMSO could coat the ion path of the mass spectrometer and reduce its sensitivity. Hearing this I am nervous to try it. I'd love to hear if anyone has any experience (good or bad) using DMSO in the HPLC solvents.

thank you all.
Concerning the the possible detrimental effect of DMSO on HPLC, can we just add the DMSO post-column?
They mentioned to use 275C in ion-transfer tube temperature so the DMSO can be effectively desolved. I don't know if this make sense.
I will try it out at some point with QE and ELITE, anyone have try DMSO on these two Thermo instruments other than the original author of the paper?

cavaliersun2003 wrote:thank you all.Concerning the the possible detrimental effect of DMSO on HPLC, can we just add the DMSO post-column?They mentioned to use 275C in ion-transfer tube temperature so the DMSO can be effectively desolved. I don't know if this make sense. I will try it out at some point with QE and ELITE, anyone have try DMSO on these two Thermo instruments other than the original author of the paper?

The DMSO trick doesn't work with QE. By the time the paper had come out and the last ASMS, it seemed like most people had stopped using it. I also heard other stories of it ruining ion mobility agilent qtof systems. The conclusions derived on the long term impact on instrument performance from using DMSO seemed a bit insufficient given the small time frame (as people found out later).